Sunday, April 09, 2017

Alarm within the U.S. intelligence community about Trump’s hasty decision to attack Syria reverberated from the Middle East back to Washington, where former CIA officer Philip Giraldi reported hearing from his intelligence contacts in the field that they were shocked at how the new poison-gas story was being distorted by Trump and the mainstream U.S. news media.

Giraldi told Scott Horton’s Webcast: “I’m hearing from sources on the ground in the Middle East, people who are intimately familiar with the intelligence that is available who are saying that the essential narrative that we’re all hearing about the Syrian government or the Russians using chemical weapons on innocent civilians is a sham.”

Giraldi said his sources were more in line with an analysis postulating an accidental release of the poison gas after an Al Qaeda arms depot was hit by a Russian airstrike.

“The intelligence confirms pretty much the account that the Russians have been giving … which is that they hit a warehouse where the rebels – now these are rebels that are, of course, connected with Al Qaeda – where the rebels were storing chemicals of their own and it basically caused an explosion that resulted in the casualties. Apparently the intelligence on this is very clear.”

Giraldi said the anger within the intelligence community over the distortion of intelligence to justify Trump’s military retaliation was so great that some covert officers were considering going public.

“People in both the agency [the CIA] and in the military who are aware of the intelligence are freaking out about this because essentially Trump completely misrepresented what he already should have known – but maybe he didn’t – and they’re afraid that this is moving toward a situation that could easily turn into an armed conflict,” Giraldi said before Thursday night’s missile strike. “They are astonished by how this is being played by the administration and by the U.S. media.”

I tend to favor the Russian accounts because the Russians have repeatedly proven to be reliable with regards to Syrian events, while the US has repeatedly been caught pushing false narratives and even false flags. Remember the "Russian attack" on the aid convoy that abruptly disappeared from the news once it became apparent that the US drones had blown up the convoy? It was all over the international news one day and utterly gone the next. And as anyone who has read Murakami's Underground knows, whatever the reported chemical was, it was not sarin.

Mike Cernovich reports that was McMaster serving as a Petraeus stand-in, not Mattis or Kushner, who was primarily responsible for the Syrian attack:

Current National Security Adviser Herbert Raymond “H. R.” McMaster is manipulating intelligence reports given to President Donald Trump, Cernovich Media can now report. McMaster is plotting how to sell a massive ground war in Syria to President Trump with the help of disgraced former CIA director and convicted criminal David Petraeus, who mishandled classified information by sharing documents with his mistress.

As NSA, McMaster’s job is to synthesize intellience reports from all other agencies. President Trump is being given an inaccurate picture of the situation in Syria, as McMaster is seeking to involve the U.S. in a full scale war in Syria. The McMaster-Petraeus plan calls for 150,000 American ground troops in Syria....

McMaster’s friends in the media, as part of a broader strategy to increase McMaster’s power, have claimed Jared Kushner and Bannon had a major falling out. In fact Kushner and Bannon are united in their opposition to McMaster’s plan. If McMaster and Petraeus have their way, America will find itself in another massive war in the Middle East.

It's certainly interesting to hear that Kushner and Bannon are still de facto allies. And now, since others appear to have noticed the same things that I have and gone public with it, I'll post what I wrote to a friend several days ago:

Obviously, I don't know what is happening. But I strongly suspect all this Syria nonsense is a feint to cover an upcoming US-China attack on North Korea.We're all hearing deployment news from contacts in the military. But if you look at where the carriers are, the signs point to action in the Pacific, not the Middle East. If you look at the map of the Korean Peninsula, it would make sense for the US to defend the South Korean border, then provide air support and perform amphibious operations from the Sea of Japan while China attacks from the north and from the Yellow Sea.I think the fact that Trump and Putin are publicly engaged in this very angsty sabre-rattling over virtually nothing in Syria while Xi is in Florida is potentially significant. Trump and Putin play out the little Syrian charade, Trump explains it to Xi, and then the US Navy has the greenlight to go after the lunatics before Tokyo, Moscow, or Beijing get nuked.

This appears to be wrong about the Syrian action a feint; the God-Emperor has come out very noisily against North Korea and expressed satisfaction with an operation that appears to have accomplished precisely nothing. It looks more like a warning to a third party. Therefore, I conclude that the Syrian strike may have achieved two goals for him.

Calling the neocons' bluff. They were all in favor of this attack and claimed it would accomplish something significant. Obviously, they knew it wouldn't, but hoped it would provoke a response from either Assad or Putin that would permit further entanglement and a justification for an invasion. That didn't happen, and now the President can tell them that he already took their advice and it did not work as they predicted.

Putting pressure on Kim. I don't know what happened beyond what we all know from the news, but something that has come out of North Korea recently appears to have all the world leaders rattled. Japan's Abe was just at the White House. China's Xi was actually there during the Syrian strike and took no offense at what the some in the media tried to portray as disrespect. Notice in particular how Trump stressed that the Syrian attack proved that he is a man of his word just prior to launching some very serious threats at Kim.

I further observe that the media is now widely reporting what I was already observing, which is that the US naval elements, which are always the core of any large-scale US military assault, are now stronger in the Pacific than they are in the Gulf.

"a massive joint naval exercise involving Japan, South Korea and the US was being held this week aimed at countering the threat from North Korean submarines"

Where I was clearly wrong was that I was expecting a feint followed quickly by a hard-hitting surprise attack. It appears, however, that the God-Emperor is going to attempt to negotiate first, while carrying a big stick in his hand. Of course, even with a strong US naval presence in the Sea of Japan, an attack from the north by the Chinese would probably come as a big surprise to the North Koreans.

Shouldn't the God-Emperor put American interests first? Well, that's just it. There are no American interests in Syria. But it's simply not possible to say the same with any degree of certainty about the North Korean situation. If - if - China and Russia are both signing on, as appears to be the case, then it behooves us to not rush to any judgment until we know more about the situation.

China will never allow US missiles and the X-band radar in North Korea, so a Chinese putsch against the current NK leadership sounds more likely, with a puppet government being installed. But a surprise attack by the US would be treated as a hostile attack. And with two NK satellites orbiting directly over US territory, I don't think there will be much surprise.....

I've previously asked what Assad did to piss off everyone in the region. Even Russia isn't too happy with him. (He's strategically important to them; doesn't mean they like him.)

Kim seems to have joined him on the list that no one likes him. It can't *just* be because he assassinated his half-brother. That brother wasn't important enough to even have body guards with him. Sub-launch-able Missiles? Maybe a working platform for them as well?

Subs are the name of that game for the Low-Cost/High-Strategic value in that region because of shipping. Crazy Kim stuck in his borders is one thing. Crazy Kim with a fleet of subs in the Straight of Malacca is a fast way to start a shooting war.

Also, China has moved significant assets into Manchuria recently. Caught the report because they were stirring up since it was nuclear-capable missiles, but they don't need to be up there to hit any US-aligned asset. There's something fishy going on.

Well North Korea has between 10 and 20 nuclear weapons according to estimates, A BOLD plan, particularily for those closer to North Korean medium range missiles. And then there is the biological program including Anthrax.

If a military action proceeds a lot is going to depend on the mental state of Kim Jong-un and the leadership surrounding him.

VD, I loves ya man. I love your ideas; I love the way you express them. But this bromance with Cernovich is getting tedious, and you've got to realize that only your most gormless readers take Zerohedge seriously. Please, not so much swamp water. Please?

I didn't see the China angle. But if he pulls either that off, or performs a sudden and drastic draining of the neocon swamp, or both, then he will go down in history as one of the top five U.S. presidents.

This could definitely be a Clancy book. Now, who could write something like that these days? Probably a Kratman and other Castalia authors? At least we have adults in the oval office these days. Can anyone imagine HRC trying to engineer something like this?

@17 I'll concede that point. For example, the integrity contained within this article is, to say the least, "in your face". I was overwhelmed to the point where I felt little need to question as to why Parmesan was excluded.

We were played, to many fucking kikes are already in. New appointments are full globalists, open borders. The Jews are running the show, there is no emperor, he is just a puppet. Whether by choice or not this presidency already is compromised. Better focus on getting the alt right stronger, trump is way too much of a nigger and kike lover anyway. He may come back but I doubt it

Those nukes Kim In-Sane so desperately wants to develop and be able to deploy has to be freaking everyone out, including China and Russia. I don't know what the game is in Syria, but I don't think it's going to lead to a greater conflict. The damage inflicted in the one attack seems minimal. I'm no expert, but looking at the pictures of the bombed aircraft shelters, it looks like dummy bombs were used, and all that happened was the gas in the missiles ignited on impact and resulted in a lot of soot. Precisely one picture of dozens showed any actual shelter damage expected from 1000lb bombs. The shelters are otherwise intact. The damaged aircraft could even be file photos. The advance warning to Putin. The lack of even a little runway damage. The lack of further escalation. It just seems too much a show.

When reading anything written by "former" CIA officers, you have to bear in mind that when they leave the service they are bound to submit everything they intend to publish or speak publicly to the CIA for vetting.

I didn't really understand the huge Alt-Right freak out over the Syrian missile attack. We warned the Russians, and basically everyone except the cleaning staff cleared out before we hit. They're still flying planes out of Shayrat airbase! The main thing those missiles blew up was the stupid "THE RUSSIANS" narrative.

It certainly does look like either a feint or a message to someone else. But no one was willing to take a wait and see approach, even though Trump has been engaging in distracting prestidigitation since he took office. Anyone notice the spineless repukes hit the laughably named "nuclear" option on Gorsuch with practically no fanfare. He's taken a blowtorch to Barry's daft environmental regs. Wall design proposals are pouring in, and his immigrant orders will be upheld. The lunatic left is so confused they don't even know what to freak out about.

Makes sense. We already knew McMaster was a neocon shill, so what better way to hang him out to dry like that?

I had forgotten about the visit from Abe, but given the fact that they're a little too close to that peninsula, that does pose a bit higher concern than playing with the proverbial cat turds in the sandbox.

I disagree that there are no American interests in Syria. A hostile Russian presence there would harm our ability to maneuver in the Mediterranean and the middle east. It also allows one of our strongest allies in the region, Israel, to be heavily threatened by a newly reinforced Syria.

McCain said he’d met Trump “some years ago” when he was a businessman, but had not met him since. McCain said he did speak “almost daily” to National Security Adviser Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, however.

“He doesn’t seem to be that upset that he’s not talking to him,” said German Marshall Fund’s Derek Chollet, a former Obama Pentagon official. “He’s trying to run U.S. defense policy through Mattis and effectively ignore Trump.”

One reason I didn't buy the knee-jerk "Trump is carrying out Hillary's war with Russia, we knew it!" response is that the same people were backing that up by saying, "Look, Bannon is out." But Bannon was never out except for officially giving up his seat; he was even still going to the meetings, and not in secret. If a theory needs lies to support it, it might all be nonsense.

That's not to say I'm any happier about foreign airstrikes (and I don't like the idea of killing people, even dirty heathen foreigners, to flush out traitors at home, if that's what happened; seems like there should be better ways to do that); but I'll withhold judgment on what's really going on, confident at least that it's not what the panicky defeatists thought.

@33. Gimli April 09, 2017 12:02 PM wrote: "I disagree that there are no American interests in Syria. A hostile Russian presence there would harm our ability to maneuver in the Mediterranean and the middle east. It also allows one of our strongest allies in the region, Israel, to be heavily threatened by a newly reinforced Syria."

If Israel is an "ally", please identify one war or military conflict in which Israel committed its military forces to on the U.S. side?

Sigh. If I had a nickel for every time we heard someone in the know was "considering" going public and then didn't.... Snowdens are too rare. Considering the treatment he's gotten, I guess that's no surprise.

What do you mean "we"? Israel is no ally of mine. Or of anyone for that matter.

Also, the keyword in your former statement is "hostile". A friendly Russian presence would be a great blessing, but guess who has been poisoning that well?

The russians are not and have not been our friends since the socialists took over. they may not be socialists now, but they are certainly not our friends. Putin is looking to gain world dominance, not be an American lapdog.

Obviously, I don't know what is happening. But I strongly suspect all this Syria nonsense is a feint to cover an upcoming US-China attack on North Korea.Was this what you were sitting on?Calling the neocons' bluff. They were all in favor of this attack and claimed it would accomplish something significant.Apparently that it did, that 'fake news' bought it is hardly a surprise, and old saying (in the ''news'' business) is ''if it burns, it earns, if it bleeds, it leads'' - IOW, drama sells.I still have my doubts he's playing ''17 dimensional Chess''. But I'm still taking a ''wait and see'' approach, I'm so used to seeing a short-term ''strategy'' approach that perhaps I'm jaded.

Frank Brady wrote:@33. Gimli April 09, 2017 12:02 PM wrote: "I disagree that there are no American interests in Syria. A hostile Russian presence there would harm our ability to maneuver in the Mediterranean and the middle east. It also allows one of our strongest allies in the region, Israel, to be heavily threatened by a newly reinforced Syria."

If Israel is an "ally", please identify one war or military conflict in which Israel committed its military forces to on the U.S. side?

Israel is an ally because they at least play at being our friend. We have a radar base with them and they provide a safe haven for our people in that region. They act as a magnet drawing the attentions of nations that would otherwise be headed west.

Trump is playing a psychological Texas Hold'em Chess match. This move had many far reaching influential layers of efficacy. I'm not sure Trump is 100% responsible though, since I still subscribe to the theory of the history we are witnessing unfolding as rhyming with Isaiah 45. If I'm right, we're in good hands.

Ok. Hadn't read Murakami's Underground, but that seems like a good assessment. Chemical weapons, including Sarin, have a half-life and will degrade over time, so it's hard to say how effective any given stockpile would be without knowing something about its origin and the conditions it was kept under. Atmospheric factors can also limit its effectivenes. Michael Savage was swearing up and down on his radio program that it was phosgene, not Sarin, but that's certainly wrong since nobody has reported skin lesions. At this point, I don't think there's enough information to positively identify the agent. I'm also very skeptical of any reporting that claims chemical weapons were released inadvertently due to a Russian air strike.

Nice hair splitting, I said "friendly", I didn't say they were our friends. I'm no fool, nations do not have friends, partners, or enemies, in the long term. Only interests. And being Israel's "Ally" is not in any way in the interest of my nation. And it is in our interest to share policing the seas for pirates and other miscreants with other nations.

Nice hair splitting, I said "friendly", I didn't say they were our friends. I'm no fool, nations do not have friends, partners, or enemies, in the long term. Only interests. And being Israel's "Ally" is not in any way in the interest of my nation. And it is in our interest to share policing the seas for pirates and other miscreants with other nations.

this might sound like a dumb question to you, but i want to know. why isnt it in America's (i assume you are american) interest to be an ally of israel?

USS Liberty, for starters. The fact they are paying to flood my country with the worlds genetic garbage while keeping their own country homogeneous with genetic testing, all the while condemning us for doing it, while we are NOT doing it. Not just hypocrisy, but hostile, destructive use of lies as weapon. The fact they are the ones who brought negro slavery into my country in the first place, as a genetic weapon, and then lied afterward and said we were the slaveowners. The crimes are endless, and unabating.

I've previously asked what Assad did to piss off everyone in the region. Even Russia isn't too happy with him. (He's strategically important to them; doesn't mean they like him.)

Syria is a mess...it's difficult to even see who is fighting who, and on what side. You have Assad (with Russian backing), ISIS, Kurdish Rebels, Syrian Rebels (with U.S. backing, at least in the past), Saudia Arabia, Jordan, Al-Queda...it seems to be (as I understand it) basically along Shia-Sunni lines, but who knows.

Gimli, no one with any sense, including Americans, wanted to "work together" with Obama. He was an anti-American, anti-Christian midwit. We're lucky he was also too lazy to do more damage than he did. If Putin recognized that, good for him.

Putin hasn't ever tried to bankrupt American businesses, or said American girls should have to share their restrooms with perverted men. He's never even insulted Americans the way Obama did. He's done nothing at all to harm me or mine that I can see, which is more than I can say for nearly all American politicians.

@56,the USS liberty was likely a mistake. How do they flood us with genetic garbage and when have they condemned us for doing genetic testing (something we should be doing anyway)? Israel wasn't around during the days we had slavery. Jews were, sure, but saying that all jews are evil handrubbing villians is silly. thats not to say a majority arent acting towards a common interest, but slavers were from every race, nation, and creed.

Bombing Syria was a feint to cover an upcoming US-China attack on North Korea. As the bombs fall in Syria, Trump explains it to Xi, and then the US Navy has the greenlight to go after the lunatics before Tokyo, Moscow, or Beijing get nuked. Hilarious. A feint. Kim: "Drats! I was faked out again!"

The issue is not just a strike on Syria; the issue is that the Bush-Clinton swamp dwellers are making great inroads in the White House. Good friends of Huma Abedin, Valerie Jarrett, and more. Personnel is policy, and the personnel are mostly lousy.

The supposedly "right" media, such as Breitbart, are not very comfortable mentioning all this. Instead, we get puff pieces about Kushner and Ivanka, who are the tools that have been used to achieve this.

The US cooperating militarily with both Russia and China would be without precedent since WWII, as far as I can recall. Color me skeptical, but if true, then that's indeed a big deal, and would probably cement Trump's reputation as dealmaker even to many of the normies.

A hostile presence you say? Oh noes! Trump may cause a hostile Russian presence in Syria, causing the Tartus base to quit being used by Russia as a port primarily used for sending Syrian flowers to blind American orphans and instead reconfigured for use as a military base for Russian navy.

Let me guess: you think Trump is forcing Syria to close its embassies, and discard its agreements held with the U.S. since 1946, including the bilateral Treaty of Friendship signed between U.S. and Syria in 1980 to instead have Assad begin new relations with Putin in 2017.

What a shame Trump's caused us to lose such a strong ally whom we've had a special relationship with since WW2.

There's been a hostile Russia. presence in Syria since at least the last 70 years.

More hair splitting, Israel is a nation, which is by definition the political organization of a race of men into a polity. It was formed from the Jewish diaspora, and shares in the history of the entire thing. There is no difference between a Jew inside of Israel or outside of it, they are all of one blood, one purpose, and one nation. They rightfully take on both the credit and the blame that the entire diaspora has made for them. Indeed, they admit it themselves, since they have to in order to have a proper legal basis for the right of return and Aliyah.

@67,Trump did lose anything. Obama did. Assad was ours but Obama backed the rebels instead of him. (probably because he sees himself as a freedom fighter) Assad was weak and putin acted to back him up, thus turning him from us.

@JDC: Not really, the Syrian Arab Army which is Syria's regular army is mostly Syrian Sunnis and is loyal to Assad.

It's really not that complicated. The legitimate Syrian Government (Assad), backed by Russia, Iran and Hezbollah is fighting a motley horde of radical Islamists backed by Saudi Arabia, Israel and elements of the US Government.

The Kurds are mostly fighting for their own survival. Meanwhile Erdogan continues to dream of watering his horses in St. Peter's Square.

We're all jaded, but it's really not because of a lack of strategy. The previous strategy since Reagan got shot was "more power, control and money for us, and maybe something for whoever pays us". They did that to a T, if we're honest.

What Trump is doing is so strange to us: policies that actually favor our own Country. It'll take time to get them implemented, though.

As for the Syria WMD attack, it's looking a whole lot more like my "3 Truths(?)" theory is correct.

1) False Flag Media Op - NeoCon/Globalist run, from some western Intel service.2) Chemical Weapons were in the building that was destroyed, only spread Intermediary Chemicals.3) Air base we attacked has WMD stores on the base.

None of these 3 are mutually exclusive. It wasn't a Sarin attack. Everyone in the photos was likely going to be dead, possibly even the photographers. But what Chemical Analysis do you run to test for Sarin? What if it's a harmless sub-product? (I haven't been able to answer this, but we're talking an Intel Operation, they can pull that off.)

http://sana.sy/en/?p=103753 There would appear to be an Arabic version, somewhere, of this statement, but this is an official Syrian news outlet. So even in official statements, translated to English, the Syrians have yet to deny that there was Sarin at the Air Base.

My current confidence levels on the "3 Truths(?)" run at 100%, 85% and 90%. Very clever trap for Trump. You can't go out on national TV and dispute "dead children". Even if you have video of them jumping up right after the pictures are taken.

If Trump has gotten China to agree to attack North Korea, then the question must be asked:

What did Trump offer China in return?

Trump is a deal maker, and the Chinese are all about deals. I don't see them doing an attack unless they are getting something for it. And I'm not talking about occupying North Korea. Nobody 'wants' North Korea, it's a complete mess.

This is offtopic, and getting rather tedious. Whether or not the Jews are good or bad in the eyes of God has no bearing on whether or not they are good for my people.

Back on topic, I'm still waiting for more news on any ground movement in Syria, 20 tanks arent going to take on the entire Syrian army, but I could see them moving against ISIL positions in conjunction with Russia if this entire thing is a shadowplay.

Could it be a trade of Korean Reunification for Chinese Reunification? I'd heard rumors that the Communist Party made an offer to Taipei to let the KMT stay on as loyal opposition even saying they could be like the Republicans in the U.S. or the Tories in the Commonwealth.

The BANG-BANG-BANG scenario of 'chemical attack-blame Assad-bomb Assad' was just too convenient to be true - right down to Trump's passionate outrage at killing babies. When combined with the previous 2013 disproven event, it was obvious to me that something didn't add up.What really pissed me off was the crowing yesterday by the usual suspects who now claim America is back as the world's leader. God help us to recover from that malady!

Nathan wrote:Ok. Hadn't read Murakami's Underground, but that seems like a good assessment. Chemical weapons, including Sarin, have a half-life and will degrade over time, so it's hard to say how effective any given stockpile would be without knowing something about its origin and the conditions it was kept under. Atmospheric factors can also limit its effectivenes. Michael Savage was swearing up and down on his radio program that it was phosgene, not Sarin, but that's certainly wrong since nobody has reported skin lesions. At this point, I don't think there's enough information to positively identify the agent. I'm also very skeptical of any reporting that claims chemical weapons were released inadvertently due to a Russian air strike.It's possible it ain't even Sarin. Comes from having to deal with a swimming pool.Remember: ''in war the truth is the first casualty''.

@Skyler the Weird: The South Koreans don't want reunification, they like being rich.

I expect that if China and the US gang up on NK, the South Koreans will make a big show of condemning the attack on their northern brothers and sisters. User their army to 'symbolically' occupy American military bases in South Korea and offer humanitarian aid to NK.

Just to keep Seoul from burning. China and the US would have agreed to all this beforehand of course.

Doesn't exactly inspire confidence in Trump if his new NSA appointment is an insane neocon that can manipulate him into action.

There's a lot of reputable smoke that there's an anti-nationalist/populist fire in the Trump White House. Goldman Sachs, the generals and Kushner now vastly outnumber Bannon/Miller and I'm guessing are using the neoconnish tendencies of the other Trump populists on the team (thinking Sessions here) to separate Bannon from his allies and Priebus.

Meanwhile, to save face, Russia and Iran warn U.S. they will "respond with force" if Syria "red lines" crossed again, while U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley continues the feint by proclaiming, regime change in Syria is now a top priority for Trump!

I agree entirely, but I also know that in order to win a battle against an opponent of superior numbers and firepower, its best to entrench yourself deeply on an entangling bit of high ground at a chokepoint and project weakness in order to goad the enemy into attacking it. It will be impossible to draw experienced commanders and politicians, however evil, out without giving them a good reason to expose themselves.

God knows it'd be bloody, but cleaning up North Korea would definitely be a big plus for the world, and the region in particular. Whether it leads to a united Korea or just a new PRC puppet, I can't imagine a new regime being much worse than the current one. Of course, the devil's in the details - specifically, you have to actually fix North Korea, otherwise it was all for nothing - worse than nothing, even.

Gimli, shut up already. You're off-topic. The fact that someone does not like chocolate, the Red Sox, or Jews is not an excuse for launching into a multi-comment explication of your own feelings on the matter.

The Nork theory makes so much sense that I doubt it's an American idea to begin with. Not that Americans are incapable of having good ideas, but not one like this. Would it be Trump who came to Xi saying, "Let's take out Kim Jong-in", or the other way around?

Skyler the Weird wrote:Could it be a trade of Korean Reunification for Chinese Reunification? I'd heard rumors that the Communist Party made an offer to Taipei to let the KMT stay on as loyal opposition even saying they could be like the Republicans in the U.S. or the Tories in the Commonwealth.After what happened to Hong Kong and Macau (no problem with capitalism, big problems with independent governance) I have my doubts.Perhaps the Chinese have learned about 'cuckservatism' - allow ''the little people'' ''freedom of captialism'' and limited ''freedom of religion'' - as in no longer enforced atheism.Just like us.

Forcing China's hand and making them install a puppet regime in North Korea is brilliant. It potentially gets rid of the Nork nuclear weapons program and quite possibly its missile program as well. The missile program isn't really that much of a threat because as far as I know they don't have any silos. They have to build the missile in stages on a launch pad over days or weeks so that's an easy target for a cruise missile or aircraft.

China saves face, gets rid of a pesky family that causes problems for them, and they end up looking like heroes for getting rid of a lunatic.

Don't know how they'll deal with the Kim family cult though. Those people have been worshiping various versions of Dear Leader for decades now. The brother might have been an option, but he's dead now. I'm not sure installing some general will work, but it is worth a shot.

I'm definitely someone who is opposed to anymore of these stupid we never win wars, but really something has to be done about the Norks because of their weapons program. Three presidents have been kicking the can down the road while they've been steadily advancing with the ICBM threat. They will get to the point where they can drop a nuke on LA, Seattle, San Fran, or other West Coast cities. While it's fun to snark about watching one of these shitlib cities go up in a mushroom cloud, it's still a grave threat to the country. Imagine the Norks taking out Pearl Harbor and essentially taking us out of the Pacific entirely.

If Trump neutralizes the North Korean situation without a single boot on the ground, he'll be the greatest foreign policy president in decades.

I've heard this before but now it seems more obvious. Counterintuitively Israel is pushing "regime" change in Syria even though it is certain to result in another Islamist hotbed. Why you ask? Because Israel would rather deal with a mish mash of small bit terrorist players battling each other as much as battling Israel, than face actual Arab States which could unite against Israel. The former they think they can control. Not so much the latter.

"April 09, 2017 11:39 AM VD, I loves ya man. I love your ideas; I love the way you express them. But this bromance with Cernovich is getting tedious, and you've got to realize that only your most gormless readers take Zerohedge seriously. Please, not so much swamp water. Please?"

Dude. Shut up. The Dread Ilk have been down with Zerohedge since forever. You don't like Zerohedge... but you obviously know nothing about this community.

It is possible it ain't even sarin. It's hard to tell one way or the other from news reports since most of these things have similar symptoms and people die when they stop breathing. It's probably not chlorine since chlorine reacts to forma HCL in the lungs, doesn't cause dilated pupils, but does cause people to die by making them not breathe any more. My take remains wait and see.

My assumption is that it's some intermediate step in the process for making Sarin. It'll probably be an irritant that will come back in tests as "sarin". Or at least enough that it's like arguing DNA evidence in court. Way too technical to work in public. So, as far as everyone is concerned, "it was Sarin".

@51 this might sound like a dumb question to you, but i want to know. why isnt it in America's (i assume you are american) interest to be an ally of israel?

@ 53 look at the games Putin has played with Obama. He showed no interest in working together. Instead he just ran circles around him and made a fool out of him.

Can you REALLY be this naive?! Israel has acted like MORE of an enemy that most countries -- all the while pretending to be an ally -- stealing secrets (do the names Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, and Jonathon Pollard, ring any bells?)! How about viciously attacking and trying to sink an AMERICAN naval ship and strafing the (still empty) lifeboats; KILLING and injuring 178 American sailors?! "ALLY"?! "Friendly"?! Spare us your obvious lack of real education!

Putin did not 'make' a fool out of the obamination; he merely played a few games with him to show off the Mulatto Messiah's inherent foolishness (and his venal/corrupt stupidity). If a U.S. prez wears a HUGE kick me sign, why should Putin not have a bit of fun?! You'll notice Putin is NOT playing stupid tricks with the God Emperor...

one has to wonder if China is looking at South Korea and thinking how nice it would be to have that kind of techno-industrial ally in its pocket... North Korea is languishing and China maybe thinking a little regime change could kick start it into, over the long term, turning into an economic power.

Nate, William S. Lind had a fascinating idea not too long ago of exporing the idea of reunifying the Koreas under the Kim Jong etal "Hermit Emperors" as powerless figureheads (with a high-class life style).

Avalanche wrote:@51 this might sound like a dumb question to you, but i want to know. why isnt it in America's (i assume you are american) interest to be an ally of israel?Here's a hint: How 'bout not acting like an enemy?YOUR country has walls, but think it's wrong for MY country to have walls. Try that.

How do you take care of best korea if they have nukes? Plebs like me always assume nukes let you get away with whatever you want, but that doesn't appear to be the case; how exactly do you bring the norks in line?

On what leverage Trump has with China. Well, Zerohedge delivered to make my point. Chinese currency is massive over-valued right now. Money can't get out. By a huge amount. You don't often here that they have the Yuan overvalued, but it is.

It gives Trump plenty of leverage he doesn't have to use. He can be charming and build a relationship, and the deal will come to him. That's good for the USA.

Dack Thrombosis wrote:Forcing China's hand and making them install a puppet regime in North Korea is brilliant. It potentially gets rid of the Nork nuclear weapons program and quite possibly its missile program as well. The missile program isn't really that much of a threat because as far as I know they don't have any silos. They have to build the missile in stages on a launch pad over days or weeks so that's an easy target for a cruise missile or aircraft.

China saves face, gets rid of a pesky family that causes problems for them, and they end up looking like heroes for getting rid of a lunatic.

Don't know how they'll deal with the Kim family cult though. Those people have been worshiping various versions of Dear Leader for decades now. The brother might have been an option, but he's dead now. I'm not sure installing some general will work, but it is worth a shot.

I'm definitely someone who is opposed to anymore of these stupid we never win wars, but really something has to be done about the Norks because of their weapons program. Three presidents have been kicking the can down the road while they've been steadily advancing with the ICBM threat.Nope, Seoul is under NK's gun as they have been for over 60 years. The Koreans (did you notice I didn't say N or S?) would love to send a nuke to Japan.

This post would appear to be the precise opposite of what is actually going to happen.

Basically, the worst of all possible worlds is now going to take place.

-we're heading for another Iraq war, with 150,000 boots on the ground. In Syria, that is. Not North Korea. We'll be occupying the entire Mideast at the beckon call of the Jews for perpetuity.

and

-it's going to be another George W Bush presidency

Unimaginable betrayal.

Basically, the resident Hasbara trolls will be happy, because all of their warmongering wishes are about to come true. Next stop: "Greater Israel." (As if that's not the world we live in already.)

I just honestly wonder if this betrayal was planned from the get go, and Trump pretended to be a non-interventionist from the start, or if it happened later on.

The appointment of Nikky Haley to the UN so early on suggests it may have been in the works from day one, while the appointment of ultra-neocon HR McMaster not too long afterwards made it certain.

But Trump's old tweets make it seem unlikely that it was a plan that was years in the making. So somehow, somewhere along the way, (relatively recently,) either Trump had a complete neocon brainwashing conversion, or he was blackmailed into this.

I can't even think that it was a "deal" of some kind (i.e., "Give us neocons complete control over your foreign policy, and you get X.") I mean, what could the Jews give him that was worth such a sellout? The nuclear option to approve Gorsuch? Talk about a bad deal, if that's what it was. SCOTUS was always more of a TruCon obsession than Trump's own, anyway.

The only thing I can imagine is that they said, point blank: "We run the show from now on, or you get impeached. Full stop."

At this point, I doubt that they'll even let him build the wall, or do any serious deportations. Why should they? They know that they can control him at will.

That's assuming he even wants to do anything good anymore on immigration. If it's not the Mideast-war-or-impeachment threat, then I half wonder if Trump hasn't just thrown up his hands, taken his ball and gone home, and said, "Fine, I've had enough of this; let the Jews run the show. I'm out."

I don't think Trump will get a peace prize even if he does end the Korean War.

I think that was hyperbole. He could bring actual world peace, with every sword beaten into a plowshare, and the people who gave Obama that award still wouldn't give it to Trump.

I'm about the furthest thing from a China expert, but one impression I've gotten is that the Chinese consider it their destiny to be hegemon over East Asia, which means they'd be very unhappy about American military action in the region, but also means they'd like to see our 30,000 American soldiers leave South Korea. So that's one thing the president could offer: you end the North Korean threat, we go home.

I know China enough, but it's possible China is looking at things in that direction. Part of the issue, easily forgot, is that China is far past its historic borders. It's rarely kept the West for very long, and the incorporation of Tibet and Manchuria have gone really poorly. (Manchurians also play the active & destructive minority role in this story.)

China is going to be more about resource security and acquisition. Plus food & water. Being a Net-Calorie importer is a very bad thing for both your economy and your geopolitical position.

That just hit. It got lost in all of the Syria stuff, but that must have come up with Trump & Xi. China is a net food importer, so what happens if shipping is shut down by a fleet of Taiwanese subs?

As for Syria, it'd take until either really late in the year or 2018 to get 150k US soldiers in theater for an operation. That's not what is going to happen. Something different is shaping up. That will be... pointy.

A couple of days ago Cerno was tweeting that Ivanka wants Bannon fired. Now he tells us that Bannon and Kushner are on the same page. I guess the husband and wife could be at odds but I doubt it. If one source is better than another, he should explain it....

Update: While U.S. NATO Admiral Michelle Howard “feints” to trick N. Korea by keeping Kim's eye-ball on Russia and Syria, Putin “feints” and wink-winks by ramping up activity in the Mediterranean and other European seas to play along and fake out Kim.

@117 You have to take into account that Trump has an ego the size of the Grand Canyon and can be as petty as a child; it's no wonder that he would delete tweets that would contradict his current decisions. Honestly, this was the man who spent a good portion of a debate arguing over the size of his hands, you knew who you were voting for.

More war in Syria gives more dirty rapefugees from all around the turd world an excuse to come and parasite off Europe's waning future. That is a bigger threat to western civilization than any other n-dimensional nonsense he might think he's doing by bombing brown people in the a-hole of the planet.

Well, that clarifies things a bit. Syria is a mess that doesn't get "solved" for all intents and purposes. So our official position is we want Assad and ISIS gone, but we're not really going to work for Assad to be gone.

The sad part is that's a perfectly rational position and less confusing than explaining who's side everyone is on.

In bigger strategic themes, though, "solving" Syria to at least Lebanon-levels of "functional" gives all of the EU ministers and out to send the invaders home. Hopefully Trump sends a bill to Merkel for the cost of that, as well.

@101 Nate one has to wonder if China is looking at South Korea and thinking how nice it would be to have that kind of techno-industrial ally in its pocket... North Korea is languishing and China maybe thinking a little regime change could kick start it into, over the long term, turning into an economic power.---

China might be eyeballing the women also. Do they still have the problem where everybody could have 1 kid, and they were always picking boys?

"Giraldi said the anger within the intelligence community over the distortion of intelligence to justify Trump’s military retaliation was so great that some covert officers were considering going public."

Yeah, right. They were so upset they considered going public.

This looks like some disinfo, with goal of making "intelligence community" look like they are against war.

Trump might be pulling a master misdirection to upend elements of the Intelligence Bureaucracy which have been undermining him. “See Beyond the Obvious with Trump and Syria” @isaacwmiller https://medium.com/@isaacwmiller/see-beyond-the-obvious-with-trump-and-syria-eb1c4ae109d7

I'm frankly sick and tired of whiners. I wish they would either make a falsifiable prediction, or shut up.

My mental model holds that Trump played tit-for-tat as usual, while looking for resulting opportunities. It won't hurt him at all, doesn't commit us to a ground war at all, and might even lead in to finally ending the existential threat of crazy norks with nukes.

Or it could be the same "Tell 5 lies to 5 stoolies and see who shits." play that Trump loves to use to ferret out whistleblowers.

I used that myself in college, although I'm not familiar with the reference. (Turned out that one of my three best friends had a childhood best friend that was on the same campus, and also a malicious gossip. Women both, and lessons learned.)

Listening to Cernovich on geopolitics should give one great pause. The idea that Syria was a feint, to distract from a joint Chinese-U.S. attack on North Korea, is actually retarded. It could only emanate from a mind that is ignorant in the extreme about the relationships and even recent history of the region.

North Korea was peeled off of Korea by Mao. And had the Communists in the State Dept and elesewhere not tilted the board in favor of Mao, by withholding information and intentionally denigrating Chang Kai Shek, who was much more friendly to the West. It's quite possible a China led by Chang Kai Shek returns immediately to its commercial, trading powerhouse roots without taking a 50yr detour into depradation and destruction.

North Korea is more than a client state, it is spawn of China. That doesn't mean China isn't troubled by North Korea at times. But what, do we not understand that North Korea's nuclear program was setup by the Chinese and aided along the way? They are a buffer.

Folks who speak about this like Mike don't even understand the Chinese strategy. North Korea is a tool of preemptive escalation, something many nations challenging superpowers do. It can be effective and under Obama's "Strategic Patience" our opponents found they could notionally out-escalate us in lots of small ways. Knowing ahead of time we would not counter.

North Korea has a massive, hardened array of thousand so of artillery guns on the border, facing south, trained on Seoul. They are not readily destroyed and a good portion would survive any initial attack long enough to fire deadly a fusillade from thousands of guns, killing millions of South Koreans. Maybe 10 million. And the resultant war? Game it out, it's an abattoir unless the Hermit King surrenders, which there is no reason to believe.

This keeps South Korea and Japan and others in the region off balance and distracted. China can triangulate and pretend there is some distance so "Panda Huggers" can continue to gag on Chinese junk with plausible excuses.

Also, China is in a total war with the U.S. Chinese policy papers make this clear, they use every dimension of power and their relationship with the U.S. to advance their interests, nonstop without any consideration for equity, fairness, agreements in place, etc. Our weakness has been most provocative to China, yet most Americans are out utterly ignorant of it.

I invite readers here to do some Googling on Chines govt officials speaking to the world and about the U.S., and the West. They sneer at us, they lord themselves about supremely, and are incredibly aggressive and confrontational in their commentary. Listen to how they speak about their economic success - as though we didn't hand them that wealth like complete morons.

The Chinese goal is clear. They want the China Sea, and really, all of Asia to be their sphere of influence as the Americas supposedly are for the U.S. Of course, we cannot let that stand. Our "Two Ring" defense is quite well developed and while a bit undermanned right now, is being reinforced. The plain fact is this. We can still beat China back in the South China Sea, and will likely have to. It will take us 6 months and cost us more than we like, but it will cost the Chinese much more. They will have exhausted a huge store of missiles and other weapons, with much of their expeditionary capability destroyed. Air and Naval forces decimated. They'd be set back 10 years.

Trump is playing his strong suit preemptively and it's sound strategy. Ignore Cernovich when he talks about the world, he doesn't seem to know much about it...

The Chinese 'too few girls' problem has four solutions:1. Red Army marches (I doubt they can do much over water) and takes girls and territory. This gives more girls, and kills off some guys, both beneficial.2. Beijing makes San Francisco look like amateurs in homosexual perversity.3. MGTOW in VR, or other gaming. This is destabilizing and stabilizing at the same time. It creates another independent power source in China. Men with money and no connections, except to parents and each other.4. Hyper-Alphas. The best of the best are refined in a deathmatch competition to be uber alphas.

"Jian took his English girlfriend out to dinner after winning the All-England Karate Match with the Lord Mayor of England to discuss investing one billion of his own money in a ....Jian was twenty-two."

And while the Han might not want to dilute their blood, telling a young guy he can't sleep with a willing girl is difficult.

I think it is too early to say. This recent attitude toward Assad has been a complete 180 and an anomaly, which makes it hard to compare to past events. Lots of people saying this was just a gesture, or a "fake response" -- others see it as a sign of changing attitude. I am hoping Trump did not sell out, but there are lots of smart people in disagreement so it seems too early to say. By the end of this month, or next month at the latest, I think the truth will be much more obvious.

"Listening to Cernovich on geopolitics should give one great pause. The idea that Syria was a feint, to distract from a joint Chinese-U.S. attack on North Korea, is actually retarded."

That was Vox's idea, not Cernovich's.

But the first sentence of what he said is all that matters. "Obviously, I don't know what is happening."

I wish more people would admit that they don't know. Some ideas are more plausible than others, but nobody knows what's going on, and everyone pretending to be so confident about what is happening is lying to themselves.

I personally admit to unknowing even at the risk of the toughest anons on the internet calling me really bad names.

Well, I have to get some work done before the office gets nuked. If I survive, I'll come back and say "I told you so" after the war starts. I sincerely believe we all got played. My back up theory is that Ivanka got all weepy with daddy over the dead baby pictures and he attacked Syria just to make her feel better. That scenario is, to me, far more probable than the super duper double secret strategic plan that only Trump and a couple of others are smart enough to understand.

If N. Korea is a threat to the South, then the South can arm up to, or exceeding, the Norths military capabilities. If N. Korea is a threat to Japan, then the can arm up to, or exceeding, N. Korea's military capabilities. Hell, we can even sell and send them the arms. They can spend their own blood and treasure.

As for Syria, we created that mess. Just back off and let Syria and Russia fix it.

All this posturing about Trumpf's super-duper art of the deal is just bunk: Elder Son April 07, 2017 1:18 PM The Elohim Trumpf super-duper secret plan of subterfuge and misdirection using 50 plus Tomahawk Missiles excuses are hilarious. And then there is the Elohim Trumpf was “fooled” into launching 50 plus Tomahawk Missiles. And, “Did you expect Elohim Trump to be perfect” launching 50 plus Tomahawk Missiles. And, “Could the strike served as a distraction from the Gorsuch hearing,” by launching 50 plus Tomahawk Missiles? Hey every-body! It’s super-duper Elohim Trumpf 3D Chess and super-duper Elohim Trumpf Poker! Besides, it’s just Syria! And Russia! Who are we going to bomb next for all this super-duper wink-wink subterfuge and master misdirection? And, US-NATO is surrounding Russia because Russia’s tanks are on Estonia’s border ready to rock and roll!

Just go up there to the blogger search-bar and type North Korea. Oh, but this time, it's Elohimf Emperorf Trumpf. And it's a BIGLY difference this time.

Something else to keep in mind is that the PLA is now filling the younger ranks with the initial years of the One Child families. Their manpower pool begins dropping (yes, large pool, but starts drying up with industry needs, academic exclusions, minorities to watch, etc.). The Han may might have interest in ways to begin reducing their long-term problems, one at a time.

They don't need to attack Syria. Syria does not exist. It is a failed state. It is occupied by multicultural forces beyond its control..

Several US engineering teams are working round the clock to build a big new air base in northern Syria after completing the expansion of another four. They are all situated in the Syrian borderland with Iraq, debkafile’s military forces report.

This was going on over the weekend as senators, news correspondents and commentators were outguessing each other over whether the US missile attack on the Syrian Shayrat air base Friday, in retaliation for the Assad regime’s chemical attack on Khan Sheikhoun, was a one-off or the start of a new series.....When the work is finished, the rising complex of air bases will enable America to deploy twice as many warplanes and helicopters in Syria as the Russians currently maintain....The five US bases in Syria are part of Trump’s three-pronged strategy which aims at a) fighting Islamist terror; b) blocking Iran’s land and air access to Syria; and c) providing the enclaves of the Syrian Kurdish-PYD-YPG with a military shield against the Turkish army.

Syria isn't the only oddity though. There's been a pattern over the past month or more. For me the healthcare debacle was the tell-tale sign that something is whack. You don't pound "repeal and replace" and "we're going to have health care so much better, for so much cheaper" for 15 months only to turn around and throw it over the wall to special interest groups and lobbyists to write the RyanCare bill. And then, criticize the Freedom Caucus for not going along. Maybe there's some 4D chess there too, but I would have at least liked to have seen some leadership on what is ultimately a very simple problem to solve.

Throw in the fact that he started off his term fighting and then eventually turned into a wet noodle on everything is an indication that something is off. Maybe the Deep State finally got him by the balls. Or maybe he's been Schwarzeneggered already. Who knows. We'll find out soon enough.

Seriously, though, I'm irritated by McMaster's conniving and I hope #1 (Trump showing the neocons that Syrian action would be fruitless) is the case.

When I saw fictional administration characters behaving like McMaster in thriller shows or movies like 24, I mostly considered it wild exaggeration for the sake of moving plot along, or creating subplots. So, once again reality outdoes fiction.

Chinese media has carried news of a buildup of Chinese troops on the border with North Korea for at least a week now. If they really are going to team up with the U.S. for some kind of action, they're not hiding it very well. Hiding it from the greater public perhaps, but I'm sure North Korea has noticed.

169. A Deplorable Paradigm Is More Than Twenty Cents April 09, 2017 10:27 PM@162 Frank BradyWell, I have to get some work done before the office gets nuked.

Hyperventilate much? Unless your office is in Seoul you are safe from the North Koreans. If you are seeing Russians under your bed, reduce the amount of vodka and other drugs consumed at night.

I feel like going long on Pampers, what with all the bedwetting visible in comments across the web.-------------------------Your world view is a bit constipated which explains a lot. I'm not concerned about North Korean nukes (which may or may not be able to reach the "homeland"). However, both Russia and the U.S. have something like 1,800 nuclear weapons on high alert ready to launch and our double-dealing Master Planner is on the verge of provoking a military confrontation with Russia. Maybe should think about going long on idodine tablets instead.

Frank Brady wrote:However, both Russia and the U.S. have something like 1,800 on high alert ready to launch and our double-dealing Master Planner is on the verge of provoking a military confrontation with Russia. Maybe should think about going long on idodine tablets instead.

Russia is not nuts enough to use nukes unless an actual invasion is involved. The US, however, is nuts enough to use nukes if they think one of their false flag attacks is actually real.

Forget Islam. The US is the greatest threat to the continued existence of the planet. Get your fucking dogs under control, will ya?

@176 Frank BradyYour world view is a bit constipated which explains a lot.

Tell me more. What's my favorite color?

I'm not concerned about North Korean nukes (which may or may not be able to reach the "homeland"). However, both Russia and the U.S. have something like 1,800 nuclear weapons on high alert ready to launch

You know the DefCon status how?

and our double-dealing Master Planner is on the verge of provoking a military confrontation with Russia.

Frank quit your dammed pearl clutching. Nothing is going to happen in Syria with Russia and this should be painfully clear given that since they aren't going their escalation the neo-cons are now saying the sarin attack is partially trumps fault and the msm is now trying to find a way to spin this against Trump.

LTGEN McMaster: I couldn't reconcile the excited young tank commander who won the Silver Star at 73 Easting with the pallid gnome in the too-tailored uniform in current photos. Somewhere in his career he had to have screwed the pooch hard enough to be turned to the Dark Side. So I went looking.

HRM led (let me get this right) the "Combined Inter-Agency Task Force-Afghanistan", an anti-corruption unit, between 2010 and 2012. By 2012, bribes to officials alone were $3.9 billion per year (Washington Times 2014). This part of his career does not appear in his Wikipedia entry.

An Opinion: (1) There is an agenda of some sort being pushed here on this blog by a few posters of many I do not recognize as regulars. A small few were notably against Trump from last year and another small few seem to have had some form of brain discombobulation that turned them from reserved Trump optimists into rabid head exploding snarling doom and gloomers. I recommend a shot of good whisky and to wait. Since waiting is really all that can be done anyway, just enjoy the whisky. (2) I doubt there are significant controlling personalities working on Trump. Does not appear to be anything in his history to support such a thing. He could have, however, based decisions on faulty information or downright flat out lies. This would be historical in regards to behavior of those around him who are entrenched and possessed in political power. Trump is still just getting vested in how it all works in government versus business. Have a shot of good whisky and relax. Trump was not born yesterday. He will persevere. (3) 50 or 60 Tomahawks with full power warheads and a max of 20% fail rate would have devastated that airbase. The airbase was not supposed to be destroyed, just put on notice. Take a shot of good whisky and revel in the fact that our military has the capability to moderate it's destructive forces at will. (4) Vox is correct. There will be negotiation tried first with North Korea. No first world nation wants to be the one to pull the trigger. And probably none will. South Korea has the most skin in the game. They will be the one to pull the trigger at some sort of North Korean provocation and everyone else will come to the aid of the South. That would be acceptable to the rest of the world. Have a shot of good whisky and take a nap because this is going to take awhile to get rolling, especially if the North does not take internal action, or be made to appear to take internal action, in whatever form that action would be, to correct the course it is on.

@ 182 Snidely Whiplash and others suffering from a Pollyannish infatuation with Master Planner's supernatural ability to manipulate world events: You might be well advised to Google "Normalcy Bias" and then consider its applicability with respect to the current rapidly deteriorating world situation.

For those not so inclined, I offer the following from the Urban Dictionary since it seems to be geared toward folks who suffer from your apparently limited cognitive ability:

The state of being in denial about super bad shit that is happening. Being geared toward everything being awesome today and tomorrow, just like it was yesterday (except that some douche bag did some holocaustic shit).Dude A: Starting tomorrow, we can all get incarcerated forever without any warrants or trials 'cuz the politicians just voted for that, and Obama said so!

Dude B: No way, dude!! I'm going to ride my skateboard, because I live in a bubble and want it to stay that way. Normalcy bias sure beats how depressing the truth is!

Throw in the fact that he started off his term fighting and then eventually turned into a wet noodle on everything is an indication that something is off. Maybe the Deep State finally got him by the balls. Or maybe he's been Schwarzeneggered already. Who knows. We'll find out soon enough.

Here is Russia there's a well-known conspiracy theory that all incoming American presidents experience a 180 degree change on policy soon after inauguration, right after having their first briefing with the CIA Deep State.

I know this is just a conspiracy theory, but so far it matches with reality incredibly well.

Public memory is only about 3 months, but Obama campaigned on "give peace a chance" and "make love, not war", and then suddenly turned into Mr.-Wedding-Drone-Bomb-Guy in his first term right about the same time Trump suddenly became a neocon. Whatever these dudes have in their files must be potent indeed. (More potent than just pedo pics from Epstein Island.)

@182 LMAO. Snidely, what makes you think Brady wants your back? Or, where you just day-dreaming?

I think Elohimf Emporerf Trumpf has made some spectacularly stupid moves, despite what some people want to dream up as excuses for him. And some of those excuses are spectacularly lame. It's okay to shit on Trumpf, when Trumpf shits on himself and his base. Supporting Trumpf doesn't mean everyone has to jump on his leg and hump it until they jizz, because YOU think Trumpf's stupid move is just some kind of super-duper 3D chess. You want to hop on his leg and jizz? Then jizz.

Snidely Whiplash wrote:One good thing, now we know who around here is a reliable ally and who will go into menstrual cramps at the exact moment they are told to.

So much, this.

It's funny how some commenters here like to talk about what Hard Men™ they are, and how they See Truth™ where others fall for the lies, and then instantly shit their pants and run around with their hair on fire like a bunch of adolescent girls, just because the very same media they deride as being nothing but lies told them to.

It truly beggars belief.

Well, not really, since most of the Very Concerned™ folks are the same names that show up here every day to talk about how horrible the GE is, and how bigly he's betrayed us, and how dumb we all are for not taking their Sage Advice™ in the first place.

They're either getting paid by the post (in which case they'll never go away, mores the pity), or they've got one of them outfits that they strap to their junk that's set to vibrate every time someone here tells them to go fuck themselves.

If it happens to be the latter, let me help you fellas toward your big O and a good night's sleep.

Go on rolling around in your estrogen-dominated panic attack, just do it somewhere else, you fucking ninny.

@Elder SonTrump is NOt shitting on his base. He is shitting on YOU. You,personally. He launched missiles on Syria because he knew it would cause you to wet your pants (well, skirt really) and then everybody could have a good laugh.

I don't get why none of the naysayers here understand that Trump is not operating in a bubble and that he does need to maneuver around some very powerful elements.

Look, the point of arguing that Trump is playing 3D chess is not to argue that he is some masterful genius. The point is that he is maneuvering into positions that have several different possible outcomes.

He cannot argue like an alt-righter and claim that the intelligence services are either incompetent or compromised, even if he believes that. He can't fashion conspiracy theories that John McCain is plotting with ISIS, even if it may be true.

So what does he do to negate the endless loop of dead Syrian babies cast far and wide across the effeminate landscape? An impotent bombing of an empty base that did not even affect the runway. Nothing more than a shot across the bow.

Seems like a reasonable solution given the circumstances. Meanwhile, operations against ISIS have resumed, with even greater urgency.

I don't get why none of the naysayers here understand that Trump is not operating in a bubble and that he does need to maneuver around some very powerful elements.

Some are acting like they thought when Trump rolled into D.C. with a string of U-Hauls, all the globalists, neo-cons, and cucks (but I repeat myself) would roll out the other side, and spend the next four years hidden away somewhere preparing for the next election.

Of course they're still holding whatever positions of power they can. Of course they're trying to suborn, confuse, trick, and manipulate the president and those around him. Of course they're trying to push him into situations where he may fail. We knew all that would happen.

Sometimes they may even succeed at it. But it's not binary. One win by the globalists over the president on something won't mean we're doomed, that his platform is doomed, or that he's been cucked/converted/unmasked or whatever. It just means very powerful, well-entrenched forces that we knew would be doing what they're doing won one battle in a long war. The war goes on.

If I'd gone on a fishing trip Thursday morning and come back Sunday to check the headlines, it might have gone like this: "Gorsuch confirmed without incident? Awesome! That was my first concern. Progress on H-1Bs? Awesome again! They have to go back. Missile attack in Syria? WTF, that's not what I voted for! Hmm, looks like it was one of those symbolic attacks on nothing, and there's been no further action or response from Russia. Hopefully that'll be the end of it, or there's something else going on here. Anyway, Gorsuch and H-1Bs -- two out of three ain't bad."